Rick Bryan is a short, athletic man in his seventies with white hair and a playful grin who’s “been paddling since before the dawn of time,” he says. He is a founding member of the South Island Whitewater Club and is also heavily involved in the Recreational Canoeing Association of BC. We were meeting so he could teach us how to roll a playboat, a small plastic river-running craft that he insisted not be called a kayak because we’d use a canoe paddle to propel and steer it.

After my lesson, we headed into Duncan for a celebratory pint at Red Arrow Brewing. The colourful brick was once the home of the Arrow Custom Motorcycles company and its old showroom is now the brewery’s lounge. Outside you’ll find a large patio, a tented stage where live musical acts play, plus Christopher the gargoyle. I recommend the fish tacos paired with their Elderflower Sour, a seasonal kettle sour made from foraged local blossoms.

We still had a lot of daylight left and so decided to check out Merridale Cidery and Distillery near Cobble Hill. It was incredible to me that this completely rural zone was so easily accessed from the highway. I highly recommend visiting this working cidery because walking the property past the ponds and under the fruit trees is an anchanting experience and the spiced rum made on site is even more magical.

That evening, we checked into the Temperance Hotel in Ladysmith. Located in a beautifully restored heritage building, the Temperance has become a standout stay in the Cowichan region. Originally built in Nanaimo over a century ago, the structure was dismantled, relocated, and reassembled in its current location where it’s served as a miners hall, brothel, doctor’s office. and more. Denise Bergquist and Stefan Queitsch purchased it in 2020 and spent four years meticulously revamping the space. The result is a boutique hotel that blends modern comfort with vintage charm.

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Rather than snack at the market, we visited the Craig Street Brew Pub located in a nearby building that boasts a beautiful antique bar from the 1940s and a real wood-burning fireplace. We ordered tuna and salmon dishes along with a flight of the ales brewed on site. The Mt. Prevost porter was a fave because of its almost desert-like cocoa flavour.

That evening, we returned to Ladysmith and visited the Bayview Brewing Company. Opened in April 2022 by longtime friends Rod Alsop and Jon Ludtke, Bayview pairs an inventive food menu with a creative, ever-changing tap list. Our tasting flight included the refreshing Lady Guava Gose and the standout 7 Belles—a dry-hopped saison named after the local tradition of ringing bells at 7pm in tribute to healthcare workers. The unexpected star of the evening, though, was the dill pickle pizza. Strange, yes. But delicious

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A 45-minute drive south delivered us to Cowichan Lake, the traditional territory of the Ts’uubaa-asatx people, who have been the stewards of these lands since time immemorial. Thirty kilometres long and , edged with forest and hidden beaches, Cowichan Lake is the freshwater jewel of the region. We made our way to Gordon Bay Provincial Park on its eastern shore, a wide, sheltered cove perfect for paddleboarding, and met Josh Tisch, owner of Pristine Paddleboards. Josh’s mobile gear shack on wheels called the “Paddle Pod,” is fully stocked with SUPs and stoke. He gave us a shoreline primer on stance, stroke technique, and balance, then set us loose on the water.

The morning was crisp, the water calm, and the boards surprisingly stable. We wove around islets and floated through sun-dappled shallows. It felt like meditation, until a rogue wobble sent my dad tumbling into the lake. Thankfully he was fine and laughed it off while towelling dry on shore.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and then grabbed food to go from the Oak Taphouse in Duncan. “The Oak,” is a Tudor-style pub built in 1980 that is now owned by Lance and Liz Steward, the same couple who own Craig Street Brew Pub.

As the sun dipped behind the hills, we returned to Gordon Bay. Josh prepped our paddleboards with waterproof LED strips that were 1,000 lumens each and synced to a remote so they could change colours mid-paddle. A waterproof speaker played ambient music as we pushed off under a canopy of stars.

Paddling through the dark on a glowing board is an otherworldly experience. The lights lit up the lakebed like stained glass. Sunken logs glowed like sleeping dragons. Water weeds danced in the current, illuminated in surreal pinks and greens. Every stroke created a ripple of colour and sound. It was like floating in a dream.

Later that evening, on the way back to the Temperance Hotel, we reflected on how much we’d discovered. The Cowichan Valley had always been a pit stop for us, a place to gas up and grab a coffee. After spending three days here though, we realized this region might well be the best-kept paddling secret on Vancouver Island.